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NEWS > BUSINESS > TICKETMASTER TO INTRODUCE CAPTCHA CHARGE
TICKETMASTER TO INTRODUCE CAPTCHA CHARGE
October 7 2010
Hollywood, CA – There was a time, a long, long time ago when the only way to get tickets to see your favourite artist was to line up at a box office. For decades people stood in those lines, facing rain and snow and the very real possibility of getting to 
the front only to find out that the show has been sold out. There are some who lament those lost days, believing that such sacrifice was intrinsic to the experience and showed true dedication. That somehow the loss of that dedication has affected music itself.
For the last three decades the rise of Ticketmaster fundamentally altered the way in which people have seen shows. No longer were there long lines or fights over specific seats, the process had been streamlined and in many ways civilized. The growth of the web made that process even more streamlined and suddenly people no longer had to leave the comfort of their home to order tickets. Long, long gone were the days of struggle and all that was left was the music. That process has continued up until this day and spread to all types of performances and even sports tickets despite protests and many, many issues facing the company. Now though a new charge is starting to cause issues for ticket buyers, an issue that may undo everything altogether.
“We have begun the process of adding a surcharge for everyone purchasing over the
web. This new charge will relates to the reCAPTCHA verification method that is utilized on our site to ensure that users are in fact human beings and not bots attempting to purchase tickets,” said a spokesperson for Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster. “The first three attempts will be considered free but any attempts after that will be subject to a charge of fifty cents. We will also be charging twenty cents whenever someone requests new words in the window. This charge is the only way in which we will be able to recoup bandwidth costs related to such actions.”
The reCAPTCHA system itself is free but all page views utilize bandwidth on the host’s tab.
“Ticketmaster has always had these service fees as a monkey on their back but the 
realities of business make them a necessity. Everyone will remember the protest by Pearl Jam that lasted a few years which was directly related to service fees but the hard reality is that for the company to continue to exist it had to charge fees. That is their primary source of revenue,” said Scrape TV Business analyst Ken Green. “The fees, which frankly can be excessive, has also met with legal protests most notably in the United Kingdom but that hasn’t changed their attitudes towards using these charges to excess. I imagine that whatever the business reality of something like CAPTCHA the company will be facing similar criticism if for no other reason than because of their history.”
The company currently charges more for etickets than they do for traditional paper tickets sent through the mail.
“If this takes off I wouldn’t be surprised to see more companies starting to charge users for bandwidth fees. The reality of advertising on the web simply does not make billion dollar companies for the most part and many have been actively seeking new and inventive ways to bring in fresh change,” continued Green. “Following in Ticketmaster’s footsteps might not be the best idea in the short term but if people begin to pay without protest it could easily establish this as a new vehicle for generating revenue for all websites.”
Reportedly, Ticketmaster already plans on increasing the reCAPTCHA fee.
William Ashford, Business Correspondent
NEWS > BUSINESS > TICKETMASTER TO INTRODUCE CAPTCHA CHARGE
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